A stranger claiming knowledge of realms beyond the known world attempts to stop a war.
[Read “The Scholast in the Low Waters Kingdom” by Max Gladstone]
The Scholast in the Low Waters Kingdom
An Action Hero without Action or Heroism: Iron Fist Season One
After watching the first three episodes of Iron Fist, my initial impressions were that Finn Jones was engaging and mostly harmless in the title role, that Colleen Wing as played by Jessica Henwick was a breakout character with whom you do not mess, and that the show started out as an unfocused mess.
Well, ten episodes later, and the first two impressions are soured, and the third has held true, sadly.
This is not to say that season one of Iron Fist is a complete disaster, but it is the least of Marvel’s Netflix offerings so far, and there are three primary culprits—the treatment of the lead character is a scattershot mess, the show can’t make up its mind who the villain is, and there’s very little fun to be had.
Television Deal Announced for John Scalzi’s The Collapsing Empire
Publisher’s Marketplace has reported that television rights to John Scalzi’s The Collapsing Empire have gone to Working Title Television. The deal was brokered by Scalzi’s literary agent, Ethan Ellenberg and Joel Gotler of IPG. This has capped a week that saw The Collapsing Empire having the best first week sales of Scalzi’s titles, with Scalzi highlighting that he’s “sold more copies of it in a week than some of my novels (including at least one Hugo nominee) sold in their first year.” This is exciting news, and while it’s still obviously early in the process, it means that there may be more space opera coming to television in the near future.
The Best Wild Cards Character (That I Didn’t Create): Roger Zelazny’s The Sleeper
Art by Brian Bolland
When George R.R. Martin assembled the original nest of writers for the Wild Cards project, he cast a wide net. Some were old friends, like Edward Bryant, Steve Leigh, and Howard Waldrop. Some were non-writers who nevertheless had worthwhile ideas to contribute, like Royce Wideman and Parris. Most were ambitious new writers, like myself, Lewis Shiner, Melinda Snodgrass, Victor Milán, and William F. Wu.
But among them was one honest-to-Jesus science fiction god, Roger Zelazny.
Your Favorite All-Female Super Teams!
Earlier this month, to celebrate International Women’s Day and the importance of female friendships, we asked you to share your favorite fictional girl squads! We got a multitude of responses, many of which pointed out an interesting trend—the majority of inspirational girl squads seem to be found in comics and television. Hmm. To close out Women’s History Month, we’ve rounded up a few of your picks and added a couple of our own, and now we’re ready for group cosplay!
Bureaucracy Over Tea: Convergence by C.J. Cherryh
C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series is a long one. With Convergence, the latest book, the adventures of paidhi-aiji Bren Cameron now fill eighteen volumes. Well, the adventures of Bren Cameron and Cajeiri, the young heir to the aishi’ditat.
For those unfamiliar with Bren Cameron and his world, Convergence is really not a good place to begin one’s acquaintance. It relies even more heavily than usual on the consequences of what has gone before not just for its emotional impact, but for any of the narrative to make sense. Don’t start here! (But do read the series. Once Foreigner gets properly started, it goes all kinds of interesting places.)
But for fans of the series, how does Convergence fit in? Does it live up to the best of its predecessors? Does it follow up the upheaval and revelations of Visitor with appropriate weight and emphasis?
39 Other Lives: The Magicians, “The Girl Who Told Time”
“The Girl Who Told Time” goes way back in Magicians-land—and moves a lot of things forward. Remember how there were 39 other time loops in which the Brakebills gang faced the Beast and failed? Thirty-nine loops thanks to Jane Chatwin (RIP). And 39 loops in which Julia went to Brakebills. Hedge witch Julia is the wild card that changed everything.
It’s an important reminder.
Even Toys Have Responsibilities: Character Growth in Toy Story 2
For decades, Disney executives never bothered with sequels, apart from the occasional follow-up to an unusual project (The Three Caballeros, which if not exactly a sequel, was meant to follow up Saludos Amigos), or cartoon short (the Winnie the Pooh cartoons in the 1960s.) But in the late 1980s, struggling for ideas that could squeak by the hostile eye of then-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, animators proposed creating a full length animated sequel to the studio’s only real success from the 1970s—The Rescuers.
The result, The Rescuers Down Under, provided an opportunity for Disney to test out its new CAPS software, and if not exactly a box office blockbuster, did at least earn back its costs. And it happened to coincide with a sudden growth in the VCR market, along with cheaply made, direct-to-video films. The combination gave Disney executives an idea: cheap, direct to video sequels of their most popular films that could also be shown on their broadcast and cable networks.
Never Take Your Plants For Granted. The Expanse: “Cascade”
This week’s episode of The Expanse, “Cascade” continued the search for Meng’s daughter, checked in with Bobbie and the Earth/Mars peace talks, and shows us a new side of Earth culture. The attack on Ganymede might have even worse repercussions than expected, somehow. We learn that Meng is now the only other person other than Naomi who can stop Amos once he starts beating someone to death.
And best of all, we get to see what Alex does when he’s alone on the Roci.
Join me for a recap of the highlights, which is obviously full of spoilers.
Joss Whedon Enters the DC Cinematic Universe as the Director of Batgirl Movie
Variety has reported a tectonic plate shift in the makeup of DC’s film universe: Joss Whedon is bringing us a Batgirl film.
Skullsworn: Chapter 1
Pyrre Lakatur is not, to her mind, an assassin, not a murderer—she is a priestess. At least, she will be once she passes her final trial.
The problem isn’t the killing. The problem, rather, is love. For to complete her trial, Pyrre has ten days to kill the seven people enumerated in an ancient song, including “the one who made your mind and body sing with love / who will not come again.”
Pyrre isn’t sure she’s ever been in love. And if she fails to find someone who can draw such passion from her, or fails to kill that someone, her order will give her to their god, the God of Death. Pyrre’s not afraid to die, but she hates to fail, and so, as her trial is set to begin, she returns to the city of her birth in the hope of finding love … and ending it on the edge of her sword.
Brian Staveley’s new standalone novel, Skullsworn, returns to the critically acclaimed Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne universe, following a priestess-assassin for the God of Death—publishing April 25th from Tor Books. Read Chapter 1 below, or click here to start with the Prologue.
New Game of Thrones Season 7 Teaser: Which Throne Has Daenerys Taken?
HBO has released a new and chilling teaser for Game of Thrones season 7, which premieres on July 16 this year. There’s a definite “Clash of Kings” vibe to it, as it follows Cersei, Daenerys, and Jon Snow in their parallel paths to their thrones. (There’s an additional surprise at the end, but we won’t spoil it!)
Both Cersei and Jon were seen taking their respective thrones at the end of last season…but where is Daenerys?
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Was the First Season of Legion Worth Watching?
A few episodes ago, a critic I follow on Twitter (can’t recall whom) mentioned that all the fervent, adoring chatter about Legion reminded them of the same ultimately misguided passion for the first season of True Detective, and I’m inclined to agree. Sure, the first season of True Detective was visually impressive, powerfully acted, and beautifully shot and directed. However, there were a lot of cracks in the foundation of the story True Detective told, cracks that became sinkholes by the second. Similarly, Legion is absolutely striking to behold, but the plot is peppered with too many ideas that go nowhere, takes too long to get going, and too often relies on infodumping crucial background details because it’s frittered its running time away on looking cool. Creator and showrunner Noah Hawley managed to keep Fargo running on all cylinders from the first to second season, so maybe Legion will be just as lucky and not hit the dreaded True Detective season two crash and burn. Given the finale, the second season could go either way.
But so what, right? The real question isn’t whether or not the first season of Legion was perfect but whether or not it is worth watching. And to answer that, let’s take a look at the last few episodes. Spoilers ahead…
It’s Your Last Chance to Win One of Three Tablets Loaded With eBooks From Tor.com and The Portalist!
The Portalist and Tor.com have joined forces to bring you the eBook Collection Sweepstakes! We’ve got three tablets, each with a different collection of titles—one all fantasy greats; one classic and new science fiction; one magical young adult tales—and you can enter to win one or all three!
Find out how to enter below; all three sweepstakes end tomorrow, March 31st, at 11:59pm EST.
Warbreaker Reread: Chapter 24
Welcome back to the Warbreaker reread! Last week, Lightsong began his Detective Returned career, as his interest was piqued by Mercystar’s incident. This week, Siri and Susebron seek solutions in stories.
This reread will contain spoilers for all of Warbreaker and any other Cosmere book that becomes relevant to the discussion. This is particularly likely to include Words of Radiance, due to certain crossover characters. The index for this reread can be found here.
Click on through to join the discussion!
Series: Warbreaker Reread
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